Incubators are used in veterinary medicine in much the same way as in human medicine. They carefully maintain a desired temperature, and sometimes also a desired oxygen saturation and/or humidity level, in the immediate environment surrounding a newborn animal or a sick animal until the animal is able to mature or recover sufficiently to survive in a less controlled environment.
Animals in need of an incubator frequently also require an environment that is reasonably clean and sterile. This can be more difficult to achieve for veterinary incubators than it is for human incubators because of the prevalence of hair, fur, feathers and such like that is shed by many animals, and also because many animals do not lend themselves readily to the effective use of diapers. Hence, veterinary incubators require frequent cleaning of the interior, and for veterinary incubators that are currently know in the art this can be time consuming and difficult due to small interior sizes and consequently difficult access, as well as the presence of shelves, fittings, sensors, and other features located inside of the incubator that may trap contaminants and may be damaged by some cleaning chemicals and methods.
Another problem faced by veterinarians is a relatively greater sensitivity to cost as compared with human medicine. Veterinarians must make as much use as possible of every item of medical equipment. Many veterinary incubators are too large and/or too heavy to be easily moved from one clinic to another or even from one room to another, and so offer only limited usage flexibility.